Hugo in the High Castle
by KhamanV
Summary: Kept inside Santa Rosa, Hurley turns to an increased dose of drugs to get Charlie to leave him alone. Dead is dead, dude. But with Charlie's departure comes an unexpected visitor of a much more disturbing type...
1. The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come

_**Hugo in the High Castle**_

_1._

_The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come_

_Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane. - Philip K. Dick, VALIS_

_* * *  
_

_5150. More numbers. Add 'em. Eleven. Add those, two. Not a number. Okay. Five times one. Five. Times five. Twenty-five. Not a number. Okay. Alright. It's a good number. It's a safe number. Wait. Five and one. Reverse them. One and five. Fifteen. Fifteen. It's a number, it's got a number in it. Ah, crap, dude, it's a number. Not directly, but still pretty uncool. I shoulda thought of that when the guy put me in here. Should have thought of it when he finished the form._

5150. 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold, as processed by a police officer. Not so involuntary for Hugo Reyes – he'd all but skipped to the officer's Ford Interceptor to be dropped off at Santa Rosa. Not exactly 72 hours, either. He'd given up on tracking time. Every three days (_three was safe_), his ma would visit. Every Friday, the pudding was chocolate with sprinkles. The sixth day of the week. That one was safe, too, mostly. Sixteen, there was a six, but without the one, it might be okay. How many threes and sixes had there been since he freaked out in a stop and shop? He didn't know. Didn't worry about it. Every twenty-five hours a nurse would come by with the Clonazepam, and things would be better again. For a while. He'd insisted on the just slightly off-kilter schedule, twenty-four had a _four _in it and he liked to hedge his bets if he could. With the two there, it was probably safe. It wasn't really a four. But it was a chance he could control.

_Is he gone yet? _ Bracing himself, Hurley slowly winched open an eye. He was alone at last. No sign of Charlie. _Sorry, dude. I just gotta hold on a little while. Just a couple more hours, man, and you're out of here. I just gotta wait for Brooks._

_Is this how, like, crackheads feel waiting for a dealer? Man. Lame. But I'm getting my dosage upped. That's good, right? Wouldn't let it go up if it was bad. But you're coming around way too much, dude. I can't take it. You're not supposed to see dead people, right, and you're dead. I said goodbye. I said goodbye to all of you._

Something moved by the door and he jerked in his seat, the heavy cotton bathrobe swishing around his ankles. It wasn't even dawn yet, the morning rounds still to come, the floor locked and secure. He looked around, huge eyes darting, picking out details of cheap corners, of cobwebs, of tree shadows on the bland off-white of the door. Just shadows. Not Charlie. It didn't make him feel any better. Hurley knew what could be in shadows.

Three more hours. Three was safe. Then the pill.

Maybe Charlie would finally leave him alone.

* * *

"How's the new dosage settling in, Hugo?"The doctor scribbled something illegible on the clipboard, glasses sliding down his nose. He absently shoved them back up and gave Hurley a quick glance, like a bird. His blond hair had given way to a little more grey, but the lips were still pursed in that tight but genuinely friendly smile. He always seemed to like Hurley, and Hurley had long since forgiven him for being so blunt over the Dave thing.

"Pretty okay, Dr. Brooks." Hurley cocked his head and looked around, trying to be sure he was telling the truth. Nope. No Charlie hanging out in the corner, no little wave, no grunge-rock sweater that smelled like strong Irish beer. How did you smell a hallucination? Hurley was deathly afraid to ask the doc.

Nod, nod. Scribble, scribble. "Any side effects? Hearing anything, sleeping more? It was a pretty strong jump for you, full half milligram. I'll be surprised if nothing's changed."

Hurley shrugged, looking sheepish. "I dunno." He tried to think, still feeling a little dopey. "I guess I'm not as hungry."

"Do you remember me asking you this exact question yesterday?" Brooks looked down at him, expectant.

"Uhhh..."

Nod. Scribble. The pen was clipped into place. "It's all right. It'll mess with your memory a little, probably to be expected. I'll check with you again tomorrow. If memory trouble persists, we're going to have to drop you back."

"Do you gotta, dude? I've really slept a lot better." It was true. Heck, it was like playing catchup on three years worth of sleep. Brooks gave him a hard stare, and Hurley tried to take it without feeling too self-conscious. There was more color in his face, less tension. Three days with no Charlie. No sounds. No whispers. It had been pretty awesome, actually. He'd have to really work to remember the question for tomorrow. He liked the new dose.

"We'll take it day by day, Hugo. Just like we always do." Reassuring smile. The fingers flexed, wanting to take up the pen, but just grasped the side of the clipboard. He gave Hurley the same birdlike headbob and left. Just lunch remained. Pudding. Must be Friday.

Hurley took a look around the room, silent and alone. He felt comforted for the first time since coming back to Los Angeles.

* * *

Day five. Hurley felt a little snappish, mumbling cranky things under his breath in Spanish while Brooks took his notes. He kept it quiet, though. Cranky, tired, but no Charlie. No ghosts. Anything was worth that. He could suck up the irritability. Just so long as he didn't haul off and smack that one dude in the game room. Guy laughed like a horse, long and loud and weird.

The therapy session was pretty unremarkable otherwise. Brooks checked him over, asked him about his dreams, talked more about the crash – everything was about getting over the past. Like erasing stuff was going to do any good, but Hurley just rolled with it like he always did. Kept up the lie. Anything for the pills. For the sleep.

"Well... it looks like you're doing pretty okay, big guy." Brooks looked at him with a hawklike expression. Different than the meek bird he usually was– a sparrow maybe, or a thrush. The piercing eyes were something else. Hurley fidgeted. Was he picking up on what Hurley was holding back? The .5 just hadn't been enough. It hadn't. He couldn't go back. He offered the doctor a big smile. _Madre de Dios, buy it, dude. _Brooks nodded and dropped his eyes. "We'll keep going with this a little longer. Now," and at this he got up from his chair. "I'm on vacation for the next week. You'll be working with Dr. Stillman until I get back."

"'Kay, dude. Have fun." He scratched under his chin. "Where you going?"

"Oh, Guam. My son's stationed at Andersen." Quick smile. Little wave. Hurley blinked a little. _Who goes to Guam?_

"Oh! I forgot." Dr. Brooks spun on his heel and pointed his pen at Hurley. "You have a visitor today."

"Uh... I don't think my Ma's due till day after, man."

"Someone else. I didn't catch the name. They're down in the lobby."

Hurley racked his brain. "Jack?" But the doctor had already slipped out the door.

* * *

Hurley shuffled down the hall, his feet in slippers, his robe clean, soft clothes with no ties all set. He looked as presentable as a man can get in a mental institute. It'd be okay to see Jack, he supposed. Sun would be better, but pretty much nobody else. He liked being alone more and more these days. Because until the drugs had really kicked in... he was never alone.

Down the corridor and around the corner, he saw the barest bit of a man in a dark suit. He paused. It was pretty small to be Jack. Maybe it was Sun, after all. He moved closer, his shaggy, curly head tilting. No, male shoulders. Slender, small, but still broad enough to be definitely male. The figure stood up, out of his view for a moment, and then, suddenly, was framed at the end of the hall.

"Oh. Oh no, dude. Not you." He backed away, feet nearly tangling. He put a hand against the wall to steady himself. "You can't be here, dude. No frigging way!"

"Hugo." The voice was soft, low and almost musical, the tone somber. "Hello again, Hugo." The small form gave a quick dip of the head, like a beckoning. Hurley wanted to retreat further, but found himself frozen by that stare. Cold blue eyes, like a snake. It was a nightmare come to life.

"You're still back there, dude!"

Benjamin Linus cocked his head, and gave him a look of polite disbelief. "And yet here I am." The strange little smile, scuttling across crooked lips. "We need to talk."

"No way, dude!" Hurley broke free of his horrified trance and began to back away fast, never taking his eyes off the small man. Nurses stuck their heads into the corridor watching him retreat, his face deathly white.

Hurley made it back to the door that marked the living areas where visitors couldn't go. No footsteps chased him. No soft _thwick!_ of that baton.

Just words, carried down the antiseptic hall.

"Tomorrow, then. Goodnight, Hugo."

It sounded like a promise from Lucifer.


	2. From Russia With Love

_2._

_From Russia With Love_

_Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. - Philip K. Dick, How To Build A Universe..._

"Mrs. Reyes, he's not taking any visitors." The nurse looked apologetic, unconsciously leaning back away from the fire in the lady's eyes. "I'm very sorry, I'll be happy to try and see if he'll change his mind, but the doctor-"

"Never mind the doctor," she snapped, pulling her arms back to cross them over a full, paisley-wrapped chest. "You tell my Hugo his ma is here and is getting _very _worried." She huffed. "Why, he wouldn't even take my phone call last night!"

"Yes, Mrs. Reyes." The nurse tapped at her board, trying to get an orderly on the line. When he picked up, she briefed him, trying to keep the harried defensiveness out of her tone. A few moments later, the orderly returned with a response. A few tiny beads of sweat popped onto the nurse's brow. "I'm extremely sorry, but he's simply refusing."

"Let me in there anyway!" Carmen Reyes moved to stride past the desk and gestured irritatedly at the visitor's door. "Buzz me in."

"Ma'am, I can't." Her face was pleading, and the tight brown bun at the back of her head felt like it weighed a ton. "It's against the rules, I'd get into so much trouble-"

"You're getting into trouble now, missy!"

"What seems to be the matter here?"

The nurse whirled to find Dr. Stillman appearing out of a hallway. She breathed an internal sigh of relief and gestured politely towards Mrs. Reyes. "Her son's refusing any visitors, sir, and Mrs. Reyes is very concerned."

"I see." His tone was even and polite. "Mrs. Reyes, would you come with me, please?"

* * *

"You see anyone, dude?" He remained huddled at the back of the shabby pillow fort, a smaller cushion gripped in his hands like it could be the arrow of God. It had taken most of the morning to get cooperation going (not to mention getting the orderlies to not interfere with what a doctor finally called a 'harmless diversion'), but after two days of avoiding constant visitor calls, Hurley was adamant on the project. Ben had promised to return. He was just going to have to assume the man would lie and say he was there on behalf of Hurley's mom. It was what he did. Everyone had told him the scariest things about Ben, and it was his fault about Charlie, wasn't it? God. All this, and Charlie was still on his mind. A flash of irritation creased his face.

Several dozen pillows, couch cushions, and bathrobes formed a relatively small igloo with a floppy roof. There were no real architects among Santa Rosa's residents at present. A larger cushion formed the door, which remained always half open. A symbolic door, rather than a particularly useful one. Beyond, a manic paranoid called Larry watched for any who approached. He muttered a quick negative to Hurley's question. Orderlies had automatic approval and came by at ten minute intervals to ensure the situation in the room and within the soft igloo remained stable.

He'd needed the help to build the thing, needed to bargain away his next several puddings to hire the assistance. It felt like his hands were huge and dumb, and he was getting tired all the time. Last night, he'd woken up under his cot. Luckily, he'd managed to scramble back up and get on the bed before the nurses arrived.

He exhaled. It was safe. No way that creeper was going to get in.

Larry murmured something to a passing orderly. Hurley glanced out, saw the white pants and shoes go away again. "He said ten minutes, then we gotta break this down. Lunchtime." Larry licked his lips. "Probably put arsenic in the lunchmeat again. They do that, you know."

"Least the pudding's safe, dude." Larry kind of bugged Hugo, but he was okay if you just rolled with it. Lunchtime meant the early visitor hours were over. That was good.

"Whole milk, though." Larry sounded doubtful. "They do stuff to the cows."

Hurley gave it a whirl. "I can keep the pudding, if it'd make you feel better."

Pause. "Nah. Small risk. The lunchmeat, though. Ham's the worst. It's ham today."

Hurley sighed.

* * *

"I don't understand what you're telling me. My son has the right to not see me?" She paced the room.

"He has the right to deny visitors if he and our staff agree that it might upset him." Dr. Stillman shrugged. "I'm monitoring a change to his medication, and there's signs of it aggravating certain aspects of his condition. If that continues, we're going to have to make further adjustments. It's very important that he not be unduly stressed during those times so that we know we're doing the right thing by him."

She sniffed at him, worry creasing the corners of her eyes.

The doctor spread his hands. "I promise you, Mrs. Reyes. We want the best for him. He's in a very paranoid state right now, the nurses have observed some signs of sleepwalking, and he's extremely irritable. These are all very common side effects to increased dosage and they won't harm him in the long run." He offered a comforting smile. "He's eating regularly and his sleep patterns have improved, though. I feel confident that he'll make it out of the trial period just fine and better than ever. He just needs a little space meanwhile."

"You're _sure._" Mrs. Reyes wrung her hands and inspected his framed diploma.

He broadened his smile and dipped his head. "Absolutely sure. His paranoia will pass very soon with no aftereffects. Just give him a couple of days and I'm certain he'll be thrilled to see you again."

"All right." She sniffed once more and tossed her head back. Contritely, she offered a hand to the doctor. "Thank you, doctor, for taking care of my baby."

"Of course." He got up from his desk, leading her out.

* * *

"Orderly."

"All right." Hurley put the small cushion down with real reluctance. It felt better to hold it. He swiveled his head around for a moment, examining the soft walls with regret at their coming departure. The white legs had appeared again outside and Hurley listened to Larry's soft footsteps shuffle off towards food. The rest of the patients had already left. The orderlies had agreed to help disassemble the project earlier, looking more amused than anything else, so Hurley thought nothing of this one that still lingered.

Legs bent, the pristine shoes still in clear view, and a man's head appeared in the igloo's gap. Hurley made a loud, gurgling _YAARK! _and kicked the small pillow towards the orderly. He missed by inches. Ben never moved, only arching a dark eyebrow at him. "You did want lunch, didn't you, Hugo?"

Hurley moved backwards away from the staring eyes, forgetting about the plush wall. He stumbled against it, put a hand out to steady himself, and found a gripful of polyester and cotton. The wall fell away and he fell with it, landing with a _whumph! _atop the pile while the bathrobe roof netted him. Undeterred, he continued to try and wriggle, kicking his legs free of terry-cloth and cotton as he went.

Ben straightened, continuing to observe. "Now this is just getting silly, Hugo. You know I can't hurt you in here. We're only going to talk about some very important things." He folded his hands together, head slightly cocked, while Hurley eventually made it to the far wall.

"Get out of here, dude."

"Hugo-"

"_GET OUT OF HERE." _With surprising violence, Hurley heaved more pillows at the man. Ben dodged easily, ducking a couple and simply sidestepping others. More orderlies began to appear in the doorway. "_Get him out! Get him out!" _Hurley's breath began to come in terrified sobs as he repeated the cry, completely losing control of his emotions.

Through bleary eyes, he watched the small man heave a heavy sigh and brush by the other orderlies in a smooth, silent march. The orderlies took no notice of their ersatz 'colleague,' far too busy looking stunned at an outburst by a patient they regarded as a gentle giant.

* * *

Hurley had calmed down by dinnertime, kept away from the rest of the patients and only one orderly sent in to check on him at regular intervals. He knew he was in trouble. His dinner was a small sandwich and a banana, no implements necessary. They wouldn't let him have his bathrobe, and he was given his least favorite set of pajamas, a set of coarse cotton pull-ons with elastic. No buttons or ties.

They didn't question him, clearly disbelieving that a man was able to sneak in among them, and there was no sign of Ben among the orderlies passing in the outside hall. If they'd known anything about the guy, they'd have known it was possible. Hurley felt another gnaw of terror.

He'd overheard a bit about calling Dr. Stillman at home, and he thought he heard another bit, this even more vague, about calling Brooks in Guam.

A whole lot of trouble. He poked at the sandwich with his thumb. Mustard squelched out its side. Ham. He thought of Larry _(was that really just this afternoon_? _He felt unsure, like he was forgetting something) _and pushed his plate aside with a grimace. He looked at his reflection in the window – hairy and awful. He hadn't showered. He felt sticky, grimy, guilty. The loneliness he'd grown to embrace felt stifling.

Suddenly, more than anything, he wanted out. Away. Away from all of them, where Ben couldn't find him, where Jack and his lies couldn't catch up with him, where he could get as far inland as possible, away from _islands,_ God and Jesu, anything for that.

On a whim, he got up from his bed and put his hand on the doorknob. What would he even do? There wasn't a way out. They always locked and triple checked everything. It was an impossibility.

Impossibles had gotten to be a way of life for Hurley. He thought of smoke monsters and his stomach flipped.

His hand turned the knob.

The door opened. He froze for ten seconds that felt like forever, and then he fled.

* * *

There was an unlocked truck in the lot, with the keys falling into his hand from where they had been hidden in the visor. Another surge of unreality passed through Hurley. This had all been far too easy, like a ballet of luck and fate. Orderlies turned away as if choreographed, doors left open, cameras swiveling, patients hooting down cold and antiseptic halls for extra distractions.

The sun was setting and the sky was on fire with it. The distant horizon held ominous purple clouds and the setting orange reminded him of all the fires he'd seen in his California lifetime. He licked his lips, feeling ill again, feeling scared. Feeling alone.

With a grunt, he hauled himself the rest of the way into the beaten vehicle and jammed the key into the ignition as his door slammed shut. Beside him, a rustle and another shut door.

The vehicle roared into life as Hurley's head whipped around to behold his small, sleek, personal nightmare. Ben wore a black suit, the sort of thing he might have imagined on a Russian mobster. Improbably, a fedora sat jauntily on his dark head. Hurley's eyebrows crawled up into his hairline while the cold, cold eyes turned to regard him. A smile crawled along that pale face_ (death's head), _and gloved hands (_somehow, that's the worst, dude. When he kills me, no fingerprints) _gestured towards the road with menacing grace.

"Drive."

Trapped, Hurley did. Behind them, sirens rose from the hospital.


	3. Judgement Day

_3._

_Judgement Day_

_Can anyone alter fate? All of us combined...or one great figure...or someone strategically placed, who happens to be in the right spot. Chance. Accident. And our lives, our world, hanging on it. _

_-Philip K Dick, The Man in the High Castle_

They drove for what felt like long hours. Hurley's dark companion said little, except to help guide him through a confusing snarl of on-ramps and off-ramps. He took Ben's words as enforceable instructions, unsure of his final destination, though much of Los Angeles County was familiar to him. He felt woozy and tense, his chest tight, and he sweat large patches through the awful cotton pajamas. Hurley had offered the driver's wheel to Ben twice, and both times, the sleek little man in the suit said nothing in response. He continued to look out the passenger window, the fedora in his lap. At what, Hurley never asked. Meanwhile, those freaky eyes weren't looking at _him._

It would be coming up dawn in an hour or so, he reckoned. Hurley began to wonder if the journey was ever going to end. He had slipped out of the hospital a bare hour after lights out, miles of freeway already lost in his hazy memory.

"If you're taking me to Mexico, dude, I could probably use a passport and we're gonna need a lot more gas."

The sleek head turned ever so slightly, the profile cast in shifting shades of dark-light-dark as the streetlights zoomed by. Crooked lips barely parted to murmur. "We're not going to Mexico, Hugo. It would be transporting an escaped mental patient across international borders. I don't need _that _on my conscience."

Hurley shot him a disbelieving look. "Are you being funny, dude?"

The head turned with slow deliberation and fixed him with a droll, blue-eyed stare. A shoulder lifted and fell in a tiny shrug. _Ooooookay, then._

"Take this exit."

On pure reflex, Hurley did, the tires of the truck squeaking in protest. He never even looked up at the off-ramp sign, although it would have told him only as much as his creaking memory now gave him – they were heading towards the Santa Monica Beach.

* * *

Hurley parked the car in one of the lots next to the pier, the famed landmark itself jutting into a black ocean that occasionally flashed a quick silver gleam. A blink from unknowable depths, granted by sea and sky. Fading moonlight glanced off the windows of the Looff Hippodrome, Hurley seeing the unlit ferris wheel hunching against the horizon like some grand kaiju monster rising from the sea to stomp the sleeping city.

He followed Ben's path, the man never hesitating in his silent, sure stride towards the beach even as the sky drew to its deepest dark before the burst of morning light. It never occurred to Hurley to run, mostly because he believed running from Ben would be an impossibility. Sawyer had told him how fast the man was, the untrusting and drawn expressions from Kate on the topic sealing Hurley's fears.

They walked together for a little while, and then Ben chose a spot on the sand with unceremonious finality, settling himself on it cross-legged with no regard for his fine suit. The hat had been left behind in the truck, though he still wore the gloves. With more than a little hesitation, Hurley plopped next to him with a heavy thud.

"We're going to watch the light, Hugo." The voice was so low, a faint and threatening harmonic hum against the sound of lapping waves.

Hurley swiveled his head towards him, towards the ocean, and then back over his shoulder. Wind ruffled his shaggy, curly hair. "Uh, dude. I don't know how to gently remind you of this, so I'm just gonna say it. The sun rises in the east." He pointed at the choppy ocean. "That's west."

"Yes. I know." He fell into a long silence, and they sat there together on night-moist sand, one small, one large, the typical asymmetrical pair. _To the moon, Benjamin!_ Hurley knew he was mad, so the sudden mental image of Ben as hapless Norton to his flustered and bulky Kramden didn't faze him so much as it frightened him. There were no episodes where the skinny sewer worker had gone ape on someone with a tactical baton, but there was one playing clearly in Hurley's mind. Blood glistening wetly in a black and white world, and this Kramden was screaming, and screaming. His throat worked, unable to hide how scared he felt.

"You're afraid of far too much, Hugo."

Now it was his turn to reply with silence. It was true. It was also unwelcome, a heart's secret burden laid out to study.

"Perhaps it's only understandable to be. You also see far too much."

That was also unwelcome. Hurley's gorge rose in a new bout of terror. Uselessly, he leaned away. Ben's crooked, off-center lips parted in a soft sigh, the gloved hands still resting in the man's lap. The head turned towards him slightly.

"You hate me the most of everyone on the island because, if for no other reason, I lie – but you, Hugo. You and your friends lied to the whole world." Ben's head cocked, an eyebrow arching in amusement. "I should be so adept as that."

"Dude." Hurley's mouth went dry. His entire body felt thick and unmoveable.

"You think too much of me, made me into a boogeyman despite my insistence. We're only human, Hugo. You and I are the same."

_"Dude!" _But the monologue wouldn't stop.

"I haven't lied once tonight, despite your ideas of me, but you're still living your lie, aren't you? And you wonder why_ they_ won't leave you alone."

"How can you know about them?" Fresh nausea.

"Charlie? Mr. Eko? That doomed little pair of siblings? Of course I know about them, Hugo. How can I not know? But that's not important right now. Your drugs are very bad for you. They're making you sick, making you lie to yourself. You know that's the worst lie of all. You need to stop taking them."

"If I do, they'll never leave me alone!"

"They already don't. You just won't let yourself see. They have so many things to tell you, and you know you need them to. If you won't hear, we all might be doomed."

"What?"

"Watch with me." Languidly, a gloved hand rose and gestured towards the ocean. Hurley squinted at the horizon. Impossibly, a flash of orange gleamed there. He whipped his head around again – all dark to the east.

"Watch."

The orange light burst, then the sky went black again. Starless and dark, the moon gone, but only for a moment. Sickly purple light rose slowly to encompass the entire sky, then began to rise through the spectrum, shining lavender and pale and then hot-white. A hum rose in his ears, familiar and unearthly, and then heat against his face. Then it all went black again.

He imagined that he heard screams. And then silence. Hurley watched as the water began to recede, boiling away towards the horizon. Pale sand began to scorch black, heat rising from it. Numb, he scrambled to his feet and began to turn to run. Ben remained where he sat, a statue, a monument to revealed lies and terrible secrets. The blackening sand approached him, but he did not stir.

"This is not something you can flee from, Hugo." Ben's head never turned, even as sand began to smoke and sear against his pants.

He ran anyway, his breath heaving in huge pants and gasps as the pier began to snap apart, the wood creaking like a screaming crone. The ferris wheel fell, agonized metal crying accusations to Hurley over a rising wind. Sand hissed at his heels, and pavement cracked even as he reached it. The truck was gone. The parking area was empty. Like Lot's wife, he turned back against his better judgement to look at the empty ocean and saw nothing but interminable darkness. Ben was gone. Everything was gone. Before him, everything else would be gone in moments.

Ben had not lied. There was nowhere to flee. The blackness encroached around him, hissing like hot steam. Like monsters in a jungle. He began to scream, flailing his arms out and striking – solid metal and concrete wall.

Hurley's breath continued to come in hitching gasps. Suddenly, forcefully, he threw up in the corner of the stifling industrial room. Then he passed out.


	4. What a Long, Strange Trip

_Epilogue: What A Long, Strange Trip_

_Say you'll come back when you can  
Whenever your airplane happens to land  
Maybe I'll be back here, too  
It all depends on what's with you. - The Grateful Dead, 'Cosmic Charlie.'_

Hurley sat huddled within himself, eyes fixed on the featureless wood and formica table. Seated across from him, Dr. Stillman continued to examine the bedraggled man with a weary face.

"You have no idea how you got out of your room and into the basement of the facility, that's what you're telling me?"

"No, sir." His voice was toneless, his face drawn and haggard.

"And you won't tell me anything else. Except that you want off your medication."

"Yes, sir." He had refused the day's dose when the nurse brought it. He had already been in dutch for being found by a janitor after a massive all-night search after a random roomcheck found Hurley's bed empty, and the refusal of his dosage had brought in the doctor from his weekend break. Doubly irritating for Stillman – the necessity of him being here coupled with the rising certainty that his presence meant nothing for the situation save a signature on necessary reports.

"Can I call Dr. Brooks, sir? He might understand."

Dr. Stillman blinked. "Dr. Brooks? He hasn't been here in months, Hugo. His son came home."

Hurley's head rose to fix a stare on him. The patient looked unhappy but unsurprised. "Okay. Can I go now? I think I've got some stuff to do today. Stuff to think about." He jutted his chin towards a chess board that he'd been setting up as the doctor arrived. The knights and the rooks were juxtaposed in the wrong position, but the doctor let it pass without remark. He licked his lips.

"Are you sure we can't at least get you to try a lower dose?"

"No thanks. I know you can force me, but I'd rather you didn't. I think-" The doctor watched as Hurley paused, eyes narrowing as if focusing very hard. "I think they were kinda making me worse. I started seeing stuff, I guess."

Dr. Stillman sighed, the irony of Hurley's words blowing right over him, and rubbed his eyes. A nurse appeared at the door, knocked once, and mouthed at him. He read the words '_Mrs. Reyes – phone' _from her lips and groaned inwardly. For not the first time in his life, he felt tempted by the idea of a drinkable, alcoholic lunch.

* * *

"They're wrong, mate." Bandaged fingers waggled at the chesspieces. "Just a coupla 'em, but it'll count. Those pair, yeah." As directed, Hurley adjusted the little horse and tower pieces. "It's all patience and thinking, this game. I'm not very good at it, maybe one of the others are."

"I'm sure someone'll be by eventually, dude." His voice was still low, exhausted and dispirited. He glanced up. It was, as ever, just Charlie. The pale munchkin face caught his look and broke into a rueful smile to try and cheer him.

"I'm really sorry you had a bad night, Hurley."

"S'alright." He shrugged. "But did it have to be Ben that came and talked to me?"

Charlie shook his head. "Wha?" He looked puzzled. "I didn't know that. I don't even think he's around. Not near, anyway." His head reared back, and he squinched an eye shut in a dramatic look of puzzlement. "Isn't he still back on the island?"

"'Kay. Think I figured that." Hurley prodded a pawn with a thick finger, nudging it forward a square. Charlie kept watching him.

"Whassat?"

"It's all just me, dude." He sighed. "Just me."

"Yeah, but at least you're not alone."

Hurley heaved a brief snort. After a moment, he began to laugh more, a real belly laugh rising from deep within and causing tears to stream down his cheeks. Charlie watched him for another moment and then joined in, sweeping a hand through light, close-cropped hair.

* * *

"You're sure you can arrange nothing." Ben's gloved hand gripped the slender little Nokia with rising aggravation. "You're sure. Yes, Moscow was fine, don't change the topic, Norton." He sighed. "So I can't get in there. At all. _No, _I can't get to his mother, and I won't try. Don't go there." He tinged his voice with threat. Obviously, the man on the other end got the hint. "Thank you. Yes. Yes, I want Jarrah also kept an eye on. He'll likely do something dramatic, like give puppies to orphans or something equally _humanitarian." _Sardonic emphasis. He thought of the passports he'd arranged for Sayid and grimaced slightly. Hopefully Norton would have enough tact to not mention the extra difficulty Ben had handed him.

Norton rang off, promising to doublecheck everything. With sour irritation warping his lips, Ben turned to regard the cold, unassailable facade of the Santa Rosa Mental Institute. His own gaze was just as cold. An idea was forming about how to get inside and speak with Hugo, an idea that might tie together two separate matters, but he set it aside for later consideration. There was no real hurry yet, no immediate looming threat he had to manage. He turned and entered his rented silver Lexus with easy grace, peeling away and headed for the freeway.

Benjamin Linus was just made of time.

_~Fin_

(ABC's LOST and its characters are not my creation, nor do I claim any ownership or rights to the above content beyond that of the average godforsaken fanfiction writer. The depiction of both mental illness and the drug Clonazepam/Klonopin is fictional and should not be regarded as a fair or accurate assessment of either. All errors are my own.)

2009/9/28


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